Another chapter! *Woop Woop*
It took another two days before Marie made it across the border and into Canada.
Marie had managed to land herself in the middle of nowhere if she was honest with herself.
She looked around the small truck stop, that she had left the un-comfort of the truck for, and she wasn't impressed.
She looked at the watch on her wrist, It was almost ten and she was starving.
There was a small dingy and gross bar a couple of feet away and it looked like it was her only chance to get some warmth and food from.
Yeah, how about we don't enter the biker palace where the potential of getting killed is three times higher than if we just lay on the ground and wait for a truck to run us over?! the panicked voice of Cody spoke out.
"How about you shut up, Marie started annoyed "and l make sure we don't die of starvation." She imagined pushing him into a dark corner of her mind, and her mind was quiet after that.
She made her way into the dingy bar hoping that they would have something to eat besides germ-infested peanut bowls.
The inside of the bar was as horrible as the outside Marie thought dryly.
The light was dimmed and further in the back was a great metal cage where to men were beating the living lights out of each other.
She walked up to the bar. "Ya'll got any food around here?" she asked the old man behind the counter.
He looked her up and down in disdain before asking her "Ya got any money girly?" Marie barely managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes.
She pulled out a twenty and placed it on the counter in front of him.
"That food better be warm, and i'll have a beer - Molson - to go with that." she said before making her way to an empty booth and plopping down.
She looked around wearily wondering if entering this place had been a good idea at all. "Oh well, as long as the creepers don't try make small talk with me I should be fine."
Her attention was brought back to the cage when the whole room suddenly started cheering.
Apparently the shorter guy had managed to knock out the big burly guy.
She shook her head wondering why anybody would spend their time beating and getting the shit beaten out of them. "Must be a guy thing."
The old bartender placed her food and beer in front of her. "Lo an' behold, the food is actually warm." she thought in surprise.
The bowl of hot chilli looked so inviting that she barely managed avoiding hitting the old man's hand with her fork before digging in.
He glared at her.
Marie felt like she hadn't eaten in days, which was probably why some of the people around her spared her a look of disgust as she practically inhaled her food.
"Either that or because they know the health hazards of eating here and I don't."
After a while she started sipping at her beer when she suddenly had a weird feeling of being watched.
She casually looked around the bar hoping to find whoever it was but nobody was paying her any attention.
"Well time to leave the creeper station behind." she thought awkwardly while getting up.
Finally! You'd think you would've taken my advice before you walked in here Marie. The annoying and miffed voice of Cody supplied in her mind.
Marie rolled her eyes before calmly walking out the bar. Once outside she hurried along the way to the truck stop.
She didn't have many choices at hand, having exchanged the bike she'd stolen for a ride in a truck across the border.
"Most truck driver are either drunk now, or expecting a lil' somethin' for their troubles." she thought annoyed.
It severely limited her choices. She looked out to the trees and forest that surrounded the truck stop.
She barely had any time to register the large being that smashed her into the forest before pain erupted everywhere.
"Fuck!" she thought as tears of pain blurred her vision. She was on the ground staring up at the man or animal or whatever it was that stood in front of her.
It was hairy and it's teeth were unlike anything she had ever seen.
Her eyes finally cleared and she notice the claw-like nails on its hands.
Fear gripped her heart and she didn't dare look away from it.
It smirked at her and growled seemingly noticing her paralyzing fear. B
efore it could take another step towards her, a loud gunshot echoed through the trees before being followed by another five.
The large blond creature suddenly froze before falling to the ground with a heavy thump it's back filled with six small darts.
Marie was still paralyzed on the ground, eyes wide as saucers, before her rescuer gripped her gloved hand and pulled her to a run.
Her rescuer, a blonde haired man, armed only with the gun was running with a destination in mind. "Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh fuck!" was the mantra that repeated itself in her mind, while the shock of having been attacked still coursed through her body.
They suddenly came to a stop in front of a big black SUV.
Her rescuer opened the door and pushed her inside. "Wait! Where are we going?" She finally managed to blurt out through her panic.
Her rescuer looked at her seriously before jumping inside the car next to her. "To safety." He said shortly and the car raced out of the truck stop.
It was only then Marie realised that there was somebody behind the wheel, a man in a suit who very much looked like the stereotypical man in black agent.
"What the hell is going on!" she asked the blonde man next to her.
The question was a catalyst for the seemingly millions of questions that followed. Who was he? What was the creature that attacked her? Where were they taking her? and so on.
The canadian landscape blurred passed the toned windows and the silence in car didn't help calm her a bit.
She figured that since they had just saved her from whatever it was that had attacked her, she would give them the benefit of the doubt.
She glanced at her rescuer and studied his looks.
"Not too shabby lookin'." she thought surprised and a small blush tinged her cheeks.
He was handsome, with his dark blonde hair and blue eyes. He was clearly older than her, maybe in his early to mid thirties, but his body was strong and well muscled - he clearly worked out vigorously.
His arms were especially well trained she noted.
He noticed her looking him up and down and smirked at her. Marie blushed, and looked out the window ignoring him in her embarrassment of having been caught staring.
She didn't know how long they had been driving, but they finally came to a stop.
She looked out the window and realised they had stopped inside a giant plane. " I really need to start taking more notice of things around me." She thought annoyed at her own seemingly missing sense of awareness.
Her nameless rescuer got out of the car and held out a hand to help her out.
She crossed her arms and ignored his hand while giving him an annoyed look.
He only smiled at her said "You'll be briefed about the situation if you come with me."
"That smile was the kind of smile that momma always used to warn me about." she thought and against her better judgment Maries curiosity won out.
She let him help her out of the car. "Briefed…. Looks like I was right 'bout the men in black theory." She reflected.
A new man in a suit was seemingly waiting for them further ahead in the plane's cargo room.
"Man, if the guy who drove us here was a MIB, this guy has to be the super suit running it all." She thought jokingly.
He looked so normal and kind, but she noticed a small glint in his eyes that clearly said he could do a lot of damage to someone if they pissed him off. He kind of threw her off a bit.
"He reminds me a bit of uncle Louie." She held back a snort at that thought.
"Doctor D'Ancanto, I'm Agent Phil Coulson and the agent next to you is Clint Barton of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." he introduced them.
He held out his hand and Marie gently shook it. "Wow, that's a mouthful and please," she replied with a small smile "call me Marie." Phil nodded at her.
"I know a lot has happened to you the last twenty-four hours, but i hope you're up for a small briefing." Marie knew it wasn't really a question but a request.
"Sure, I'd like to know as to why I was attacked." she said a bit quietly.
They led her up a small stairway and into a small office. "Seriously, how big is this plane?" she thought a bit exasperated.
She sat down in small chair and next to her Agent Barton followed.
Behind the desk Agent Coulson pulled out some files and handed them to her.
The picture on the first page was of the creature that had attacked her. There was a name next to it that read Victor Creed a.k.a. Sabretooth.
She looked up from the file to Agent Coulson.
"So, this Sabretooth was the one who attacked me." Marie said looking a little pale, and Agent coulson nodded. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has had various run ins with Creed over the course of many years, he works as a contract killer," he stated and Marie felt bit sick in her stomach. "since then he's teamed up with a terrorist organization known as the Brotherhood of Mutants."
"Because of what he is. A .. Mutant?" "Is that what I am too? A mutant…" she wondered, finally receiving small glimpse of the answer she had been searching for since she was sixteen.
Another nod from the Agent. "Exactly. There had been some talk and there were rumors flying around that the leader of the Brotherhood, Erik Lehnsherr also known as Magneto, is building some kind of machine that he's going to use to kill off some of the world leaders unless they surrender to him." He continued.
"Sorry, but I still don't see what any of this has to do with me." she told him.
"Do agent Barton and Coulson know I'm a mutant? Do they think I have something to do with the machine?" Marie worried but she kept her facial expression as neutral as she could.
"Apparently," Agent Barton started "Magneto needs you to finish his machine. Seemingly there aren't enough criminal masterminds with Phds in Engineering out there." this was followed by a eye roll from Barton.
Maybe you should tell this Magnet guy that you're not really smart at all, that everything you know you've taken from other people. He just might leave you alone. Cody voice piped up. "Not now Cody!" Marie replied angrily, when Cody brought up her deepest secret.
She buried him deep inside her mind not wanting to think about the "incident" from her childhood.
"Look," Marie said returning her attention to the two agents "if ya'll afraid I'm gonna start helping the magnet man with his machine of doom, you've got nothin' to worry 'bout. I'm not really in the business of helping megalomaniacs with their evil plotting."
Agent Barton snorted.
"You won't really have choice in the matter if Magneto gets a hold of you." He said raising an disbelieving eyebrow at her.
This time Marie rolled her eyes at Barton. "There are like a thousand or more engineers he can choose from and kidnap, so why me? Why am I so special?" She asked them frustrated.
"Magneto can't possibly know I'm a mutant, I barely know if I'm a mutant, and its been kept under wraps for so long… Is that why he wants me? … He couldn't know… Could he?" Marie thought as a small headache made its way.
Agent Coulson frowned "We were hoping you could tell us. We don't understand his obsession with a twenty year old genius girl either, but we do know he isn't going to stop look for you."
"Great, just great." Marie let out a sigh.
"And what do you want me to do 'bout that? I'm not gonna' hide inside a room for the rest of my life in fear of what might or might not happen."
Agent Coulson smiled and Marie couldn't help but feel like she had stepped into a trap.
"We're not asking you to," He said still smiling and Marie couldn't help glance at Agent Barton and see him looking as nonchalant as ever.
"Which is why S.H.I.E.L.D. would like to offer you a position in our Research & Development department."
Marie shook her head at him disbelievingly "You wanna' offer me a job? Here? In a secret government organization? Why?"
Agent Barton looked at her as if she just said santa wasn't real.
"You're young and brilliant, so you fit the criteria of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s recruitment standard." He said.
Agent Coulson continued "Your work is quite innovating and unorthodox I've been told by our head of R&D, and also, this way we'll be able to keep you safe from Magneto's clutches."
Marie contemplated the offer for a moment "They could keep me safe… and it's a government facility, they would have information on these mutants…" She looked up at Agent Coulson a bit hesitant.
"I'm not sure… Honestly I never really wanted to be or work as an engineer, " she admitted and she saw the surprise on the two agents faces.
"it's just the road i sorta ended up on, but I'll give it a shot until this Magneto guy stops the witch hunt for me." She agreed hesitantly.
Well at least we'll have food and hot water here. Cody said contented with the outcome of the situation.
"I'm glad." Coulson supplied honestly before pulling out a major stack of papers and files.
"This is your contract, please read it, remember it, sign it and bring it back to me.
Your pay will be agreed on with our head of R&D, also food and boarding will be provided to you and the R&D you'll be working for will start you out with smaller project before clearing you for the bigger ones." Coulson nodded at Barton who stood up.
"Clint will take you to get you an ID and temporary room. He'll also give you the run-down of S.H.I.E.L.D. We'll be heading out soon to our base," He informed her "If you have any questions don't hesitate in asking me or Clint if I'm not around." Marie nodded at waterfall of information slapped in her face.
Barton walked out the door and Marie struggled to keep up with him, arms filled with what felt like a million papers.
:-)